


Turning Pages

by xwlthoughts



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Forehead Touching, Hordak (mentioned) - Freeform, Kyle (mentioned), Lonnie (mentioned) - Freeform, Rogelio (mentioned) - Freeform, The Fright Zone (She-Ra)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24437098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xwlthoughts/pseuds/xwlthoughts
Summary: Reading for pleasure is looked down upon in the Fright Zone, but Adora finds a book that reminds her of a certain someone.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 72





	Turning Pages

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! It's very late for me right now, and I wrote this as some fluff to pass the time, so the characterization and writing may not be 100%. But thank you for being interested, and give a kudos if you enjoy it!

The Fright Zone wasn’t a place that housed very many books. While Adora grew up, Shadow Weaver gradually taught her the fundamental basics of reading, and she explained that her reason was nothing but the following; when Adora was eventually promoted to Force Captain, she would have to be capable of reading field reports and various documents to help her on her path.

Catra insisted on being taught as well, much to Shadow Weaver’s discontent. At first, she simply refused the girl’s requests, but when Adora grew weary of spending the long nights on her own, she gave in to her efforts. 

She taught the two of them using ancient texts from her travels, at least, that’s what she told them. Ghost stories seemed to be her favorite, with each scary story beside a detailed drawing of these horrifying creatures. But some of her books were different, stranger, and told them of the world outside the Fright Zone. They weren’t allowed to read those ones, but once in a while when Shadow Weaver left them alone, they would peak at the pictures.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to master these new skills with their combined efforts, and being able to read distinguished them from the other cadets.

After mastering novels, Catra and Adora were taught about the Horde’s rules regarding texts and storybooks. Their rules were rather simple—reading for pleasure was looked down upon, and texts mentioning the princesses, Bright Moon, or fiction were strictly forbidden. Hordak disliked the subjects spread in these novels, and often burned them upon discovery. Something told the pair that the books Shadow Weaver hid from them were hidden for a reason.

Despite these regulations, the two of them found themselves sharing more and more of their teachings to the rest of their squad.

Lonnie was the first cadet they told stories to. They began teaching her simple wording, and she absorbed their shared knowledge rather quickly. Once she had advanced enough, they even described the images from Shadow Weaver’s secret books, impressing the other cadet thoroughly. But the three of them knew that this was a secret meant to be shared between them, and only them.

Eventually, their teachings began to spread. Lonnie shared her findings to Kyle, and did her best to show Rogelio despite his lack of speech. Although they found joy in their stories, Adora was unsure whether books were worth the trouble, especially with Hordak’s distaste.

It was only when she was exploring on her lonesome when she found a book outside of the ones Shadow Weaver shared with them.

After their usual training session with the other cadets, Adora trailed away from the group to clean up after herself. She pressed a bath towel against her forehead, patting away the sweat drops from her skin as she searched for a place to rest. As she slipped off her training gear, she came across a thin book hidden beneath her seat, a thick layer of dust hiding its cover.

She was initially unsure of the book’s origins, and lifted it from its place with the intention of returning it to a Horde officer. But upon examining its contents, she grew curious of the stories hidden inside its pages.

Adora slid the novel beneath her shirt, concealing it until she had a chance to examine it further.

The group soon returned to the barracks, where they curled up within their beds and rested until their next session. Catra was nestled on the sheets just below her feet, her chest rising and falling peacefully as she slept. It was at this time that Adora slipped away from the others, finding a dimly lit corner outside of the room and retrieving the book from beneath her shirt.

Unfortunately, the book was plastered to her sweat, and was now covered in a rather nasty sheen. But thankfully its pages weren’t too damaged, and Adora began reading as soon as she got it open.

There were many words that she didn’t recognize at first, but with each turn of a page, she understood the text more deeply. There were two women in the story, both connected to each other in a deep emotional bond. This book called this ‘love,’ a word that Adora was unfamiliar with. But the feelings that the two of them shared felt all too familiar, bringing a rather distinct flush to the blonde’s cheeks.

It took her the entire night to complete, and she found herself struggling to return to her bed before the Horde officer awoke them for their morning training session.

“Adora,” Catra asked her the following training session, her back pressing up against the blonde’s as they defended each other from the holograms of the simulation. “Did you get any sleep last night? You look like you haven’t slept in days.”

The warmth of her skin against her own made Adora dizzy. Ever since she read that stupid book, she was beginning to feel a certain fuzziness in her stomach whenever she so much as looked Catra in the eyes. It was beginning to annoy her, which only made her strike with her weapon even harder. “I’m fine,” she insisted, a hiss to her tone.

Catra didn’t bother her for the rest of the night.

The next day, the two of them were thrown back into another simulation—but this time, they were fighting against each other. They both wielded the same Horde-marked staffs, clashing against each other with such fierce electricity that sparks were nearly flying off of their weapons. As normal, Adora seemed to have the upper hand, and she began driving her friend into a corner with repeated blows. There was nowhere for her opponent to escape, and she was sure that she had won this round with flying colors.

But when Catra responded with a devious smirk and raised brows, Adora felt her heart melt.

In that moment alone, the feline jolted forward, bringing her staff down on Adora’s own and knocking her to the floor with one final strike. She paused for a moment to wipe the sweat from her forehead, then offered her hand to the girl lying upon the floor. It was the first time that she had ever won a match against her, and she would never let it go.

“Come on, Adora. You look stupid sitting there.”

When Catra was sleeping against her legs that night, Adora never felt hotter. She believed it to be her long-sleeved uniform at first, but even beneath her fabric, she could feel a growing heat across her skin. It was like static electricity, hitting each and every one of her nerves and setting them on fire. This feeling made her twist and turn uncomfortably, soon awaking the girl beside her. It didn’t take long for her to blink the sleep away from her eyes and crawl forward to meet the blonde’s eyes.

Catra stayed there for a moment, doing nothing but watch her with unblinking eyes.

Their close proximity caused a lump to form in Adora’s throat, but she couldn’t tug her gaze away from the other girl. She was breathless for a moment before she covered her eyes with her hands, pulling a groan from her throat.

“Adora,” Catra pestered, pressing her hand against Adora’s shoulders and giving her a firm shake. “You’ve been acting weird ever since I won against you. Did I hurt you or something? Are you brain damaged?”

“I’m not brain damaged,” said Adora, laying her arms at her sides. She stared at the bottom of the top bunk, a look of frustration painted over her features.

“Then why have you been acting like this?” Catra opted to rest the side of her face against the same pillow, adjusting her body until it was parallel to Adora’s. “If me winning against you upset you that much, I’m kind of disappointed I only started now.

“Oh, shut up!” the blonde said with a teasing push, shoving the feline square on the shoulders. She soon released a stream of quiet laughter, pushing back against the other girl’s neck with equal ferocity. “It’s not because you won, I swear.”

“Then why?”

After their attempt to shove each other off of the bed, neither of them moved their hands from each other’s bodies. One of Adora’s hands was resting upon the top of the feline’s shoulder, and the other was on top of the curve of her collarbone. Catra’s hands were laced around her neck, with one of her long claws hooked into the curve of her jaw.

Realizing their odd position took Adora’s breath away, and she instinctively grew closer to the other girl in an attempt to seek her warmth. And luckily for her, Catra didn’t seem to be pulling away, either.

“I found a book a few days ago,” Adora admitted with a whisper. “I read it while everyone else was asleep, and. . .”

“And?” Catra pressed. Their faces were so close that her breath tickled the blonde’s lip, bringing a redness to her face.

“It was about two girls like us,” she continued warily. “And they. . . did stuff that made each other happy.”

“Stuff like what?”

Adora blinked, staring into Catra’s eyes longingly. The things that she read in that book weren’t things that she had ever seen in action, and truth be told, she was unsure how it felt in the real world. All she knew was that it made the two women happy, and that maybe. . . if she and Catra did the same, they could be happy too.

She leaned forward tentatively before their foreheads met. Adora shut her eyes warily, embarrassed that Catra would soon swat her away with her claws. But while she waited for her friend to strike her, she was soon met with a vibration instead.

Catra was purring.

After a long while of relishing her rumbling purrs, her eyes opened slowly, only to see that the other girl had shut hers as well. “Is this okay?” she asked her quietly, a familiar pink tinge reappearing on her cheeks.

“Of course it’s okay, dork,” she responded softly. “Better than okay.”

And Adora decided that she liked books very much indeed.


End file.
